September 2, 2005 - "We all know this is an agonizing time for the people of the Gulf coast, I ask their continued patience as recovery operations unfold", said the President. Well. Mr. President, hunger is not patient. Thirst is not patient. Illness is not patient. The heat of a New Orleans August is not patient. It is difficult to be patient, Mr. President, when you are hungry, thirsty, naked, and need shelter. The dead lying in the street are more patient, Mr. President. They have plenty of time to wait.

Every hour without a reliable supply of wholesome food the hunger grows. Every day without a safe supply of drinking water the thirst grows more urgent. Every hour of isolation from medical care brings the patience of death a step nearer.

Mr. President, consider this:

“Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment”

The Lord is not patient. He does not celebrate hitting a political Trifecta. We have not finished counting the dead and the toll may exceed the 6000 killed in the Galveston hurricane of more than a century ago. The President said that no one could have predicted the levees breaking, a comment that eerily recalled Condi Rice’s comment about using airliners as weapons. Here is what the Times-Picayune said in 2002:

"Amid this maelstrom, the estimated 200,000 or more people left behind in an evacuation will be struggling to survive. Some will be housed at the Superdome, the designated shelter . . . for people too sick or infirm to leave the city. Others will end up in last-minute emergency refuges that will offer minimal safety. But many will simply be on their own, in homes or looking for high ground."

"Thousands will drown while trapped in homes or cars by rising water. Others will be washed away or crushed by debris. Survivors will end up trapped on roofs, in buildings or on high ground surrounded by water, with no means of escape and little food or fresh water, perhaps for several days."

How patient should they be, Mr. President? How patient should they be?